WHITE PLAINS, New York (AP) — Hillary Clinton is advancing into states the Democrats haven't won in decades, confidently expanding her offensive against Donald Trump and aiming to help her party win back control of Congress.
There's a new $2 million push in Arizona, aides said Monday, including a campaign stop in Phoenix by first lady Michelle Obama, one of Clinton's most effective surrogates. An additional $1 million is going into efforts in Missouri and Indiana, both states with competitive Senate races, a small amount of TV time is being bought in Texas and media appearances are scheduled in Utah.
With her lead increasing, Clinton is unlikely to need any of the normally solid-red states to win the White House. But her team believes that a wide presidential margin of victory would help end Trump's political movement and undermine his intensifying claims that the election is rigged.
On the other side, Trump's campaign announced plans to launch a $2 million advertising blitz in Virginia, even as polls show him trailing Clinton there by a significant margin.
"Donald Trump is becoming more unhinged by the day, and that is increasing prospects for Democrats further down the ballot," said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, who cited early voting and registration numbers to predict record voter turnout
Democrats aren't the only targets of Trump's rhetoric about the legitimacy of the election system.
In a Monday morning blitz of tweets, he lashed out at Republicans who have tried to tone him down, calling his own party's leaders "so naive" and claiming without evidence that major fraud is real.
"Of course there is large-scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!" he tweeted.
There is no evidence to back up Trump's claims. A study by a Loyola Law School professor found that out of 1 billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.
Trump's tweets show he is continuing to play a scattershot defense rather than make his case to voters, with just three weeks left and much ground to make up in opinion polls.
Rather than campaigning in the tightest battlegrounds, Trump was spending much of Monday out of sight before speaking in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a state where Clinton is viewed as having an edge. Clinton was spending the day with advisers near her home in New York, preparing for the final presidential debate Wednesday night.
The Clinton campaign for months has been eyeing an expansion into Arizona, where Hispanic voters make up more than 15 percent of the electorate and Trump's sharp language about immigrants have left him vulnerable, said Republican pollster Whit Ayers, an adviser to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's re-election campaign.
"Trump has run against Hispanics," Ayers said. "Consequently, Arizona is tailor made as an easily winnable red state where Trump could lose."
Trump also leads in Indiana and Missouri, but U.S. Senate races in both states have become very close. In Indiana, former Sen. Evan Bayh is in a dead heat with U.S. Rep. Todd Young. In Missouri, Republican Sen. Roy Blunt is locked in a tight race with Democrat Jason Kander, Missouri's secretary of state.
A former senator, Clinton and her team are clear-eyed about how closely her success as president would be tied to having her party in power on Capitol Hill. Senate Republicans already are casting themselves as a crucial check on her, signaling the fights to come.
"I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, said in a radio interview. An aide later said McCain would examine the record of anyone nominated and vote based on their qualifications.
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Associated Press Writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines and Michael Biesecker and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Hennessey reported from Washington.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/10/459009/confident-clinton-expanding-her-campaign-into-traditional-red-states